March 8, 2016
By Charles Goldberg
AuburnTigers.com
AUBURN, Ala. ÃÆ'¢Ãƒ¢'¬- Auburn coach Butch Thompson called it a confidence booster for Andrew Mitchell. Why not? Mitchell ran his scoreless streak to 15 innings and held the No. 9 college baseball team at bay Tuesday.
But not even Mitchell's performance could stop the Yellow Jackets from a 4-1 victory in front of 2,963 in Plainsman Park.
Mitchell gave up a run in the last inning he worked, leaving in a 1-1 tie through five innings. Auburn's offense, which struggled in a weekend tournament in Pensacola, mustered four hits, though Anfernee Grier extended his hitting streak to 14 games and stole his career-high 11th base.
Auburn's day belonged to Mitchell.
"A month ago, I don't know if I could have seen that," Thompson said. "So I think that's a confidence boost to go out and play a team of this caliber and get four goose eggs."
But, Thompson said, "I can't skirt around the lack of offense."
Thompson said he would stay the course he set before the season.
"The easy thing for me is to panic, or our players to panic. That's the easy way out. The 'woe-is-me', or to scream and yell. The hard thing is to stay patient, keep believing in our guys."
Thompson said he would.
"We're going to take the hard route, staying with it, continue to work and try to go back to some basics and build them back up.
"We've got 10 or 12 guys we believe in, and we're going to stick with it."
Niko Buentello drove in Auburn's run in the first to up his SEC-leading total to 23. Georgia Tech tied the game in the fifth, scored two more in the sixth and another in the seventh.
Georgia Tech starter Cole Pitts improved to 1-0. Ben Braymer fell to 1-2.
Auburn will play host to Oral Roberts in a three-game weekend series beginning Friday.
Charles Goldberg is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @AUGoldMine